Police in Chicago have used records from stolen cell phones and credit cards to track down the attackers of Irish student, Natasha McShane, and Stacy Jurich.

Two people are now being held in custody. A source has also revealed that the baseball bat used in the attack been retrieved.

McShane is still in a serious condition at the Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Centre while Jurich is said to be making a slow recovery.

The two young women were attacked while walking from a bar to Jurich’s Bucktown home.

They were then set upon and beaten with a baseball bat till they were unconscious. According to Jurich’s mother McShane was struck in the head and fell to the ground unconscious, in a pool of blood. Jurich who had also received a blow to the head tried to help McShane.

She tried to escape and screamed for a taxi. The first taxi driver sped by, seeing their blood drenched clothes. A second taxi then stopped and called 911 just before Jurich passed out.

McShane and Jurich had been celebrating just before they were attacked. McShane had just received news that she could extend her stay in the U.S through an internship program while Jurich had just received a glowing job review from a Morgan Stanley Smith Barney brokerage office.

McShane, a University College of Dublin student, has been studying at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. She had planned to prolong her stay by taking an internship position.

Bobby McGuire, owner of Butch McGuire’s, a bar where Natasha worked part-time has organized accommodation for the McShane family and donated money towards their costs. McGuire described Natasha as a “"very nice, outgoing, intelligent young lady".